Singer-songwriter John Gorka will perform on November 14 at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore, which shouldn't feel too out of place: he began his music career playing at a neighborhood coffeehouses in eastern Pennsylvania.

Gorka, a Jersey native, attended Morovan College in Bethlehem and soon after joined the growing folk music scene in New York City, becoming one of the "New Folk" artists that caught the attention of the likes of "Rolling Stone" magazine in the 1990s. His career has taken him to appearances on CNN and "Austin City Limits," and his music has been covered by the likes of Mary Chapin Carpenter and Nanci Griffith.

He has released 11 albums so far in his career, not including the 2010 collaboration he released with Eliza Gilkyson and Lucy Kaplansky titled "Red Horse."